The grooviest movie of the summer has a secret, baby!
2002-07-26
$63.0M
94 min
The world's most shagadelic spy continues his fight against Dr. Evil. This time, the diabolical doctor and his clone, Mini-Me, team up with a new foe—'70s kingpin Goldmember. While pursuing the team of villains to stop them from world domination, Austin gets help from his dad and an old girlfriend.
Weakest of the three in my opinion, but <em>'Austin Powers in Goldmember'</em> still has some memorable moments.
I enjoyed the star-studded and cameo-filled opening scene, it's well done. Mike Myers is again great in his roles, especially Dr. Evil, and Beyoncé Knowles is a positive addition. The stuff with Dr. Evil isn't as good as in the 1999 film, yet he still made me laugh a few times; he does have one of the series' best moments with the rendition of the Jay-Z song.
However, I did feel a few pacing issues. All in all, it's still worth a watch. As noted, the cameos are solid - and let's just say they chose the perfect actor to play Dr. Evil...
Austin Powers' inglorious end... so far.
I can't deny that Austin Powers was a landmark franchise for late '90s humor cinema, but the truth is that this film, like its immediate predecessor, isn't funny at all. Here, the script is based on a new conspiracy by Dr. Evil, this time in harmony with a Dutchman fascinated by gold, who wants all the gold he can hoard. So that the English spy doesn't get in his way, he kidnapped and had Powers' father killed.
The script is very weak, has worn-out premises and works, in practice, as a parody of the third film in the Bond franchise. If that was any success initially, in this case it doesn't seem like enough for the movie to work. In addition, the conception of the vast majority of characters is unfortunate because it is very underdeveloped, the writing is terrible and the dialogues horrible, and everything seems just an excuse for an avalanche of jokes. Also, there are characters here that don't really have to be here, like Fat Bastard.
Mike Myers continues to play several characters, in a very intense and truly well-executed role-playing exercise; he tries everything to make his film work, and invests his talent in a truly remarkable way. However, if the recipe no longer works, the actor's effort and talent are simply being wasted. In addition, there are other actors with an equally positive record, such as Verne Troyer, Michael Caine or Beyoncé. The rest hardly matters, and I prefer not to mention the large amount of unnecessary cameos from a series of artists, models and singers. Seeing so many stars appear just for the hell of it doesn't make any sense and gives the film an irritating sense of smugness.
Technically, there are some features that I want to point out, namely the visuals and specials, with Myers playing opposite himself in many occasions and scenes, and the excellent sets and costumes. Unfortunately, the film has a very fast pace and the editing was not very happy, but what is really needed here is some really effective humor, because if the film's formula already seems worn out, the humor of the successive jokes is non-existent.
